We are a group of students at Western Washington University who are
trying to get a student run food co-op on our campus. We have run into
several barriers that have stopped our plans from following through.
The main barriers we face are insuring food safety and liability. The
university wants us to work with our food service provider, Sodexo,
instead of being an autonomous business. Also, in order to get outside
food in our campus markets, the businesses must have 5 million dollars
worth of insurance. We were hoping you could answer a few questions
and give us some insight as to how you went about starting up your co-
op.
Could you tell us how your school handles food liability issues ( i.e.
who would be held liable if someone were to get sick?)? How did you go
about addressing food liability concerns with the university? Do you
require your suppliers to follow HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Points) protocol and/or carry insurance? Can you receive food
directly from the farm or must you go through a food distributor?
Who is your food service provider? Are you self operated?
What is your management hierarchy? What is your operational structure/model?
If you are student run, how do you ensure consistency of service with
high student turnover?
How did you start up your co-op? Did you encounter barriers as you
went about forming your co-op? If so, what were they and how did you
go about overcoming them? Do you have a memorandum of understanding with your university?
If so, could we get a copy?
In the first few years, did you make a profit? If not, how did you get
funding?
We could use all the input and advice you could give. We appreciate
the time you took to help us out by answering our questions, and we
look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
The Co-op Team
We are a group of students at Western Washington University who are
trying to get a student run food co-op on our campus. We have run into
several barriers that have stopped our plans from following through.
The main barriers we face are insuring food safety and liability. The
university wants us to work with our food service provider, Sodexo,
instead of being an autonomous business. Also, in order to get outside
food in our campus markets, the businesses must have 5 million dollars
worth of insurance. We were hoping you could answer a few questions
and give us some insight as to how you went about starting up your co-
op.
Could you tell us how your school handles food liability issues ( i.e.
who would be held liable if someone were to get sick?)? How did you go
about addressing food liability concerns with the university? Do you
require your suppliers to follow HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Points) protocol and/or carry insurance? Can you receive food
directly from the farm or must you go through a food distributor?
Who is your food service provider? Are you self operated?
What is your management hierarchy? What is your operational structure/model?
If you are student run, how do you ensure consistency of service with
high student turnover?
How did you start up your co-op? Did you encounter barriers as you
went about forming your co-op? If so, what were they and how did you
go about overcoming them?
Do you have a memorandum of understanding with your university?
If so, could we get a copy?
In the first few years, did you make a profit? If not, how did you get
funding?
We could use all the input and advice you could give. We appreciate
the time you took to help us out by answering our questions, and we
look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
The Co-op Team